Association Of Southeast Asian Nations Economies Research Articles

Trademarks and Geographical Indications: Policy Issues and Options in Trade Negotiations and Implementation

Trademarks and geographical indications have been the focus of contention in bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations and in the implementation of agreed trade obligations and regulations among World Trade Organization members, including partners in free trade agreements with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members. This paper examines these issues, and the related policy implications and options, in terms of specifications and scope, priority rights and coexistence, and the treatment of generic names in the registration and protection of geographical indications. The development, commercialization, and protection of geographical indication products can benefit trade and development in ASEAN economies. However, a geographical indication system similar to that in the European Union would likely reduce ASEAN imports of competing products from non-European Union sources. An agenda for further research, policy facilitation, and information dissemination is mapped out, emphasizing the importance of adequate and affordable policy incentives and business development services.

Exchange Rates and Export Competitiveness in Selected ASEAN Economies

This paper discusses the impact of exchange rates on the export performance of selected ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) economies, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. We construct an empirical model to account for the role of the real exchange rate and other economic fundamentals such as macroeconomic stability, terms of trade, capital goods investment, external demand and human capital. This work also attempts to see if the higher import content industries (such as electronics and textile) are more affected by exchange rate changes than the more resource-based industries (such as wood and rubber). The study makes use of a panel data and estimates export equations using a fixed effect model both at the aggregate and sectoral levels. The findings in this study strongly corroborate results from the theoretical framework that the exchange rate misalignment and variability have significant impact on export performance, both at the aggregate and industry level. This work also gives evidence for the importance of capital goods machinery imports (technology) and the role of human capital. The study also finds that the export growth path for the selected ASEAN economies is dependent on global demand conditions, especially demand from OECD countries. However, there is no evidence to indicate that the exports from high-import content industries are more affected by exchange rate changes than the resource based industries.

The endogeneity of the optimum currency area criteria: an application to ASEAN

In this paper, the endogeneity hypothesis of the optimum currency area criteria is tested for seven economies who are members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The empirical evidence presented shows that greater trade flows between these countries will lead to increased specialisation according to their comparative advantage, resulting in more divergent business cycles across ASEAN. As such, the endogeneity hypothesis of the optimum currency area criteria is rejected. This finding suggests that the ASEAN economies have not yet achieved a sufficient degree of harmonisation and convergence in their business cycles through trade, implying that these countries are not yet synchronised enough to enjoy the benefits of monetary unification.

Quota-free Trade in Textiles and Clothing: Policy Issues and Options for ASEAN

Constrained until 2005 by import quotas, the production and trade of textiles and clothing (T&C) has become widely dispersed with substantial losses in global income and welfare. Meanwhile, quota and tariff preferences from major importing countries have enabled a large number of developing economies to embark on this “starter industry” and to gain a larger market share than would have been the case under an open trade regime. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) and India are expected to benefit most from a quota-free T&C trading environment but at the expense of many economies with preferential treatment, including a large number in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). There is, however, much scope and several options for the regional economies to mitigate some of the adverse repercussions. Suitable procurement and production mixes of imported inputs, including for up-scale applications in T&C, can yield preferential market access, for example, in the European Union and Canada. An integrated supply chain within ASEAN or linking ASEAN with South and/or East Asia can help global buyers, including those from the United States, to reduce their overdependence on and to offset supply problems from the PRC. Joint ventures with T&C firms in the PRC are an appealing option for the more developed ASEAN economies.

Regional Integration and Benefits from Foreign Direct Investment in ASEAN Economies: The Case of Viet Nam

In recent years Viet Nam has been pursuing the twin goals of promoting inward foreign direct investment (FDI) and regional development in the context of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The paper surveys transnational corporations (TNCs) with operations in ASEAN, and finds that Viet Nam has now largely achieved its initial objective of being a major FDI recipient. The regional aspect is especially manifest in consumer electronics, although most subsidiaries in Viet Nam still perform assembly-type operations oriented toward the local market. This has to change if Viet Nam is to maintain its development momentum. Under the threat of international competition and in order to maximize the dynamic gains from FDI, Viet Nam has to reorient its policies and emphasize a shift toward targeting efficiency-seeking investments and developing more advanced links with TNC regional and global value chains. This new approach would benefit from a full-scale development of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (providing access to a regional market) and the ASEAN Investment Area (securing capabilities in Viet Nam and other ASEAN countries), as well as other regional trade and investment initiatives.

India-ASEAN Investment Flows

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was created in 1967 through the Bangkok Declaration. It is a group of ten nations, viz. Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. ASEAN has been quite successful in raising its collective bargaining power to ensure market accessibility with the major players such as USA, Japan and European Community (EC). ASEAN economies are among the most successful in terms of economic growth and development. Intra-regional direct investment flows have complemented and reinforced the growth of trade within Asia by building up the export capability of the host countries on one hand and by directly increasing machinery imports from the capital exporting countries on the other. The importance of increased intra-regional direct investment goes much beyond the increase in financial flows to the ASEAN region. Intra-regional FDI has been an important instrument for the realisation of the so-called "flying geese" pattern of industrial development in Asia. The ASEAN region has become one of the most attractive investment locations in the developing world and attracted a disproportionately large amount of FD!, particularly during1987-96 period. FD! is not only a source of capital funds and foreign exchange, but also is a dynamic and efficient vehicle to secure the much needed industrial technology, managerial expertise and marketing knowledge and networks to improve on growth, employment, productivity and export performance. The present paper deals with these aspects of FDI in ASEAN region.

The Export Competitiveness of ASEAN Economies, 1986–95

This article compares changes in the competitive position of five members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia, exporting to the markets of the United States and Japan between 1986 and 1995. Dynamic shift-share methods are applied to two-digit data for five categories of manufactured exports. Our findings underline clearly the challenge posed to Singapore by its ASEAN partners over this period in all product categories except office and data machines. Thailand appears to have been more successful in the earlier period but lost ground in later years to the Philippines and especially to Malaysia. Indonesia, on the other hand, has been relatively unsuccessful so far relative to the ASEAN bloc as a whole except in the lower value-added category of apparel and clothing exports to the U.S. market. I Introduction Notwithstanding the recent Asian financial crisis, the last two decades have witnessed substantial growth and structural change in Southeast Asia, with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),' in particular, emerging as one of the fastest growing regions in the world. ASEAN real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at about 6 per cent between 1985 and 1995 on an annual average basis, compared to the world average of 2 per cent and growth in developed market economies of 3 per cent, and ASEAN's share of global merchandise trade reached 6.7 per cent by the end of 1995, compared to 3.8 per cent in 1985.2 Not only have Malaysia and, to a lesser extent, Thailand clearly emerged to challenge the dominant position in manufactured goods exports of the older and more established four (little) tigers (or four dragons, or gang of four) of Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and fellow ASEAN member Singapore, but there is every expectation that the relatively less advanced economies of Indonesia and the Philippines will, in turn, challenge Thailand and Malaysia as they move up the ladder of value-added. The objective of this article is to examine changes in the competitive position of each of these ASEAN-5 member countries relative to the ASEAN-5 group as a whole, in terms of their exports to the key markets of the USA and Japan between 1985 and 1995. A dynamic version of shift-share analysis is applied to two-digit data for five categories of manufactured exports. The particular version of shift-share analysis used here follows the national growth rate methodology of Richardson (1978) and Esteban-Marquillas (1972) and combines it with the dynamic version of Barff and Knight (1988), but focuses on export growth over a period of time rather than employment change. Our findings underline the challenge posed to Singapore by its ASEAN partners over this period in all product categories except office and data machines. Thailand appears to have been more successful in the earlier period but lost ground in later years to the Philippines and especially to Malaysia. In spite of rapid growth, Indonesia, on the other hand, has been comparatively unsuccessful so far relative to the ASEAN-5 bloc as a whole except in the lower value-added category of apparel and clothing exports to the U.S. market. We begin in section II below with some background on the nature of the ASEAN-5 economies and their remarkable economic transformation in the 1980s and 1990s. This is followed in sections III and IV by a description of the shift-share methodology used to compare changes in their competitive positions over this period, and our empirical findings. The article ends with some brief concluding remarks and qualifications to our results. II The ASEAN-5 Some of the economic characteristics of the ASEAN-5 are summarized in Table 1. Despite differences in economic structure and relative resource endowments between the ASEAN economies (for example, Singapore's small population size and dearth of natural resources compared to Indonesia), all have undergone a period of rapid economic growth and structural change between 1983 and 1995. …

An Investigation of Economic Linkages among the ASEAN Group of Countries

This study investigates existence of any economic linkages among the five founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and explores the nature of these linkages. Based on the Vector Autoregression, variance decomposition and impulse response function analyses applied to quarterly real GDP data for the 1975-93 period, the results show the leading role of Indonesia and the significant economic linkages among them. The direction of causation and transmission is from Indonesia to the Philippines to Thailand to Malaysia and to Singapore. A two-way causation is found between Singapore and Malaysia. The study also finds the economic vulnerability of the ASEAN group of countries to changes in U.S. output, and the competitive nature between the Japanese and the ASEAN economies. These findings have important policy implications. 1. Introduction This article examines the issue of economic linkages among the ASEAN group of countries, and assesses the strength and the direction of these linkages.1 Although much has been written about the growing economic interdependence among these countries, so far no study has been undertaken to quantify and explore the nature of their interdependence. To achieve this objective, we utilize vector autoregression (VAR) techniques used to study regional linkages (Cargill and Morus 1988; Cromwell 1992; Sherwood-Call 1988). We examine the regional and international spillover effects on the ASEAN economies. Specifically, we investigate these questions: Which ASEAN country drives the ASEAN region? Do economic shocks in a member country spill over to other member countries? If yes, what is the direction of shocks transmitted among the ASEAN countries? Are these economic shocks external to the ASEAN economies? Understanding how economic shocks are transmitted among the ASEAN countries is important because of policy implications. If ASEAN economies are susceptible to spillovers from each other (which can be positive or negative) and if we can identify the source of transmission, then the effectiveness of one's macroeconomic policy setting will greatly be enhanced. Under this scenario, policy coordination for the mutual benefit of the ASEAN member countries may be called for. In light of growing intra-ASEAN trade and investments under a more liberal economic environment, the ASEAN countries are expected to share common economic linkages so that a recession in one member country may spill over into other member countries in terms of output and employment decline. The 1985 recession and the 1997 currency crisis, for example, which hit all the ASEAN group of countries, could be a reflection of these economic linkages. The questions of which ASEAN country drives the ASEAN region and how the economic shocks are transmitted among different economies are answered by employing vector autoregression (VAR) techniques using quarterly data on real GDP for ASEAN countries, Japan and the United States for the period of 1975 to 1993. The results can be used to identify leading and lagging relationships between variables and, with further identifying restrictions, to measure the economic importance of these dynamic relationships. Variance decomposition method is used to measure the economic importance of these relationships and impulse response functions are used to trace the direction of the effects of a shock in one country on the other countries. The objective is to examine the extent to which economic fluctuations in a country are driven by its own economy, or by linkages to other countries. This article complements other work that study linkages among the ASEAN economies. Ariff (1996) studies the external effects on financial liberalization in four ASEAN members and finds that external effects induces efficiency in the financial systems. Manzur and Ariff (1995), on the other hand, examine the relationship of prices in five ASEAN economies and find that a long-run relationship holds. …

Asean Economic Co‑operation: Adjusting to the Crisis

In 1997, while the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) proudly looked back at its past thirty years of accomplishment in forging regional peace and security, vibrant economic growth, and higher levels of social welfare, a new issue — economic security — confronted the grouping's economies. Rapid growth of over 7 per cent per annum achieved during the past decade, which made ASEAN one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, came to a crashing end because of the financial crisis that hit the region in the second half of the year. ASEAN's economic growth in 1998 is predicted to be the lowest in the last three decades. However, the factors that contributed to rapid economic expansion in ASEAN countries remain strong, and have the potential to return the region's economies back to a sustainable growth path. ASEAN continues to enjoy, for example, high levels of saving, a strong work ethic, low underlying inflation rates, and a dynamic and entrepreneurial private sector. In previous instances of economic slow-downs in the 1980s and 1990s, each ASEAN country was able to come out relatively unscathed after the restructuring of their industrial sectors. Since then, the region's rapid economic growth, particularly in the real sector, has resulted in strong demand for capital to finance economic development. This led to large inflows of both long and short-term capital into the region. The development of strong financial institutions both at the regional level and for each ASEAN member country is of crucial importance in order to cope with such large inflows. The adjustment to the present crisis will therefore be different from previous ones. The crisis is a region-wide phenomenon and calls for a regional solution. It also involves private debts for which the role of the private sector would be crucial. ASEAN Economies Up to the 1990s: An Overview To understand the financial turmoil it is necessary to begin by looking at macroeconomic developments in the region up to the middle of 1997. The sound macroeconomic fundamentals of ASEAN countries defied any suspicion of the dramatic collapse of exchange rates that began in July 1997.

Trade interdependence and direct foreign investment between ASEAN and China

The objective of this paper is to examine the connection between international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI), by comparing some salient features of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) FDI flows into China with those of FDI flows from the United States and other developed countries. This analysis should be especially instructive in light of the recent macroeconomic model of FDI pioneered by Kojima on the relationship between a country's comparative advantage and its outward direct investment. We postulate that the changing patterns of the ASEAN countries' comparative advantage and other macro-level factors play an important role in motivating firms to venture in China. Similarity of trade structure and lack of complementarity of the Chinese and ASEAN economies limit the absorptive capacity of each other's products, which further challenges the entrepreneurs of the ASEAN countries to a high commitment of direct investment into China.

ASEAN and Pacific Economic Co-operation

It was common political fear that brought the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) together in 1967. By and large, it was also an external threat that had held ASEAN together through the years. But while peace and stability within ASEAN provided a conducive environment for economic growth and development, each member in ASEAN had developed largely out of its own independent achievement. They owed rela tively little to joint ASEAN economic co-operation efforts. Existing economic co-operation had been based on inward-looking, bureaucratic protracted negotiations as formulated in the conceptual framework of the Kansu report (1974).1 With the dissolution of the Cold War and the resultant change in political configurations in Southeast Asia, the external threat can no longer be the glue. ASEAN needs a new cohesive force and a common purpose to survive the coming decade. Moreover, there are also other factors such as wider regional efforts in the Asia-Pacific which may create centrifugal forces to threaten the fragility of ASEAN sohdarity. On the other hand, ASEAN and Pacific economic co-operation in the 1990s could take advantage of the increasing web of economic linkages among ASEAN countries resulting from their progressively outward oriented industrialization strategy since the early 1980s. The latter was sus tained by investments from multinational corpora tions (MNCs), increasingly from Northeast Asia, which have penetrated all the ASEAN economies. This study examines ASEAN involvement in Pacific economic initiatives, and is structured as follows. Section 1 provides a brief overview of past ASEAN economic co-operation efforts, to highlight the structure and trends of development so far, and to assess the impact of the mechanisms chosen for ASEAN economic co-operation (ASEAN industrial projects, ASEAN industrial comple mentation scheme, ASEAN industrial joint venture scheme). Existing trends in direct foreign invest ment and trade in the Asia-Pacific region will be examined in Section 2 to reflect the outward orientation of ASEAN economies in the 1980s, particularly the new mode of ASEAN economic co-operation based on an outward oriented strategy that emphasized the role of the private sector, while Section 3 analyses the various regional economic

Asian Competition in Third-Country Markets

Research Article| May 01 1991 Asian Competition in Third-Country Markets Fred Herschede Fred Herschede Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Asian Survey (1991) 31 (5): 434–441. https://doi.org/10.2307/2645016 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Fred Herschede; Asian Competition in Third-Country Markets. Asian Survey 1 May 1991; 31 (5): 434–441. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/2645016 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAsian Survey Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1991 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Asia Pacific Economic Co‑Operation (APEC)

The emergence of the new process of Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) since early 1989 has been a significant development for a vast region which accounts for almost half the world economy. The process is designed to provide an increasingly effective means of expressing the common interests of a diverse group of economies from Northeast and Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand together with their major trading partners across the Pacific ? the United States and Canada. APEC and its future direction is particularly important for the ASEAN economies, who represent half of the current participants in the process. The views of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) have been important in defining the nature of the new process and its guiding principles. It provides an important forum for presenting ASEAN's economic priorities to a broader group of regional economies in a constructive, non-confrontational environment. Following a brief description of the economic setting and origins of APEC, this paper reviews developments to date and some challenges for the future. The Setting During the last thirty years, there has been a dramatic economic transformation in the Asia-Pacific region, leading to remarkable improvements in living standards and economic strength. Japan has led the way towards prosperity, but there are similar success stories with the same potential for future prosperity for Hong Kong, Singapore, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Taiwan and, more recently, for an in creasing part of Southeast Asia. The growth record of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the decade to 1989 has also been impressive. The success of these Western Pacific economies has been based on good eco nomic management and high saving rates which allowed these economies to invest massively in human and physical capital, leading to spectacular and sustained increases in productivity. Success has also stemmed from the ability and willingness to take advantage of changing international market opportunities. But, perhaps most importantly, the rapid sustained growth of these economies has been due to a relatively open multilateral trading system which has prevailed during recent decades. While the system of international trade under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is deficient in several important respects, it has made it possible for Japan and other Western Pacific economies to exploit their comparative advantage. Success in exporting, initially of light manufactures, followed by an

ASEAN Economies: The Tasks Ahead

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) comprises six free enterprise economies, namely, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. The ASEAN economies com bined are considered to be quite large by world standards. In 1983 the total popula tion of the ASEAN states was about 270 million, and the combined gross national product was just above US$200 billion. All of the countries have come a long way from being agriculture and primary product pro ducing economies to much broader based economies with rapidly growing manufac turing sectors and modernized trading and financial sectors. The economic achievement of the ASEAN countries over the last three decades has been due to the conscientious policy of opening up the countries to for eign trade and investment, and to strong commitment to economic growth and development. The results have been high real GNP growth averaging 5 per cent to 10 per cent, rising per capita income, improv ing productivity in agriculture and industry, rapid modernization in infrastructure, and growing urbanization. In fact, the pace of economic change has been so rapid that even a close watcher of ASEAN develop ment has found it very difficult to keep up with all the changes. The development of the ASEAN econ omies has not of course been without problems. Because of their close link to the world economy, the ASEAN economies have been subject to the world economic depression of the mid-1970s and the early 1980s. The recent recession has hit ASEAN economies very hard. The GNP growth rates have all slowed down. For some econ omies, the experiences with financial instability have been very difficult. While most ASEAN economies managed to recover from the recession in 1983 and 1984, it has become clear that the experiences of rapid growth with relative stability as in the recent past cannot be expected in the remaining years of the 1980s. In addition, there are still many other problems which require the attention of all parties con cerned. Highest on the list of the largest ASEAN countries are the problems of unemployment and poverty followed by the problems of security in food and energy in some countries. Thus the tasks which lie ahead for the ASEAN economies are how to manage the economies such that reasonable growth is attained while the problems of instability are minimized, and to continue to improve the equity situations at the same time. To do so ASEAN will rely on its strength in terms of natural resources and economic dynamism.